Money Does Grow On Trees

On my tree, money does grow. Gold coins to be precise. Alas, I can't grow it in the garden, but I still enjoyed making a money tree. It's now above my desk in my studio, and it has my first $1 I earned with my business...really it's a $20 bill but I figured that was even better.

Tutorial Design Lesson: Rule of 3

If you mean to do something in your creative project, do it 3 times so people know you did it on purpose. It brings harmony and unity to your effort. This is true in art, in gardening, or in designing anything.

Here's what reminded me of this "rule" from my college typography class: As I design with stained glass I find myself always looking for a pattern to subtly bring forward. Not too much or it would be just plain boring.

In the planning the panel "Celebration", I introduced the yellow triangles to break up the monotony of all the squares and rectangles, I purposely included smaller green triangles and orange diagonal lines, too. I didn't just throw any ole triangle, but echoed colors used previously.

The small squares in "Celebration" were added to bring variety to the size - which creates tension and balance but notice all the colors are not the same. Nor are they all on the same row, but they are all organized toward the middle and the small squares are the same size. The type of glass is even similar.

Repeat the shape 3 times, the color 3 times, or the line 3 times. Whatever you want to emphasize. It doesn't have to be exactly the same for repetition, in fact it would start to look canned and contrived.

Snow, snow, snow!

We've gotten more snow this year than I've seen since moving home from Montana seven years ago. Now, lest you think that's a good thing...I've missed the snow almost as much as the mountains. Not quite, but close.

Last year the boys got sledding saucers for Christmas and never got to use them. Jan, Feb, Mar...no snow! Spring, Summer and Fall my middle son kept saying he wished there was snow. Always it was because he wanted to go sledding.

It took awhile for it to snow, but when it did, wow! Not only did they get to sled, but make snow forts and a snowman. Winter fun.

Broken Camera with Santa

Back in December we stood outside at a park, in the cold, for over an hour to get a picture of the boys with Santa. As the boys gather around Santa I pull out my camera - and the LCD display has a huge crack in it. I took this photo "blind". I'm sorry to say I did not notice that my camera had an old-fashioned view finder while they were with Santa. How do we not notice things that are right before our eyes? Humm.

Thank You For Sharing

Recently, I received a delightful email showing me a stained glass panel I made last summer in the client's window at home. I love it! It is so fun to see where it ends up.

From Etsy, one customer said the stained glass panel she was giving as a Christmas present was the nicest gift she's every gotten anyone. Wow, how cool is that!?

Along the same lines a woman at a craft fair in December a woman bought a red, white, and blue bi-plane panel for her husband. The men in my life who like planes was always at the back of my mind as I was designing that piece.

As everyone in our house is finally healing from colds, stomach flus, and infections, and the house is after-Christmas cleaned, it is now time to get the juices going and start creating again. Hurray! Thank you everyone for sharing pictures and comments of how you plan to use the stained glass in your homes, work places, or in giving. It's an inspiration for me.

Sharing Our Bananas

Mother Teresa once said that in India starving people would generally share their last banana, but in America we have a big bunch and we won't share even one. The image this bring to mind still haunts me.

Luckily, in the age of the internet we can make a difference around the world with a click of a button. We can share our bananas, so to speak. Have you ever been to globalgiving.org? If not, I recommend browsing their site. You can pick causes to support based on region of the globe or target group you want to help.

My favorite Christmas shopping this year was done on globalgiving. Do yourself a favor and experience the joy of giving $10 to a cause you didn't even know about this morning. It feels good.

Chives on a Sandwich

Have you ever had cream cheese and chives on your sandwich? It's surprisingly good. I mean almost divine. Last week we accidentally bought cream cheese with chives in it, and I discovered:

Cream cheese and chives on a sandwich - makes it taste like a sandwich you would pay good $ for in an upscale sandwich shoppe. Full disclosure: I did add some light mayo, too. I made this sandwich everyday until we ran out of turkey.

Cream cheese with chives tastes real good in a baked potato - makes it taste like a twice baked potato, especially with cheese sprinkled on top.

Now I can't wait for my chives to pop up in the garden...I'm going to be adding fresh chives to all kinds of new things. In fact, I'm making tuna noodle casserole for dinner and my husband likes chives in it, maybe I'll need to go out in the backyard and see if we have any chives.